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| The cast of THE NATURALISTS: Michael Mellamphy, Tim Ruddy, John Keating, Sarah Street |
In the middle of this year I was contacted by New York’s Pond Theatre Company. I had sent the directors of this group some plays of mine and in the previous year they had staged two readings – Belfast Girls and Leopoldville. They had also staged some scenes from the all-female version of Leopoldville - a piece I’m still currently working on - and earlier this year read this work back-to-back with the all-male original version. But the play they were contacting me about this summer was an earlier play, The Naturalists – and they wanted to stage the World Premiere in September! Of course I said yes!
I wrote The Naturalists in 2009 and it had a
staged reading at the Flat Lake Festival in Monaghan in 2010, directed by
Padraic McIntyre of Livin’ Dred Theatre Company. That reading went well but
because I'd overheard a producer who we’d invited to see the play, someone
who may have been able to take it further etc - say, “who needs another
Troubles play” or words to that effect, I put the play in a drawer where it
remained for the next few years. Then, in 2014, I was asked if I had a new work for a reading
series at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre, London. I submitted The Naturalists and it was directed by
Robyn Winfield-Smith with the brilliant Ruairi Connaughton as the play’s main
protagonist, Francis Sloane. I realised at this reading that the play is not really a Troubles play at all. The Troubles form the backdrop to my story – as they have done to many lives in the Louth/Monaghan areas, where many of my stories and plays are set.
In
The Naturalists, the central character of Francis Sloane was, in his youth, the
“mastermind” behind the Narrow Water bombings which took place near Warrenpoint
in 1979. He is an entirely fictional character, as no one was ever charged for
this crime. In Francis, I wanted to create a character with a past so dark that
he could barely forgive himself for it. I also wanted to look at what such a
crime does to the immediate family of the perpetrator and how, through the
forces of nature and love, he and Billy, his brother, find their way back to
some semblance of normality. It is the female character, Josie, who shows the
brothers a way out of their past and in the brothers’ difficulties, Josie
herself, finds a renewed sense of purpose.
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| Tim Ruddy as Billy Sloane in The Naturalists |
I spent two separate periods of involvement with this production in New York this summer. One week in August for rehearsals at the Irish Arts Centre, which was fantastic. The weather was seriously hot (35 degrees plus) – but it was wonderful to watch the company work and be present to answer questions about the script. My next trip was in September to see the actual show. It was so great to see how the organic approach I'd witnessed in August had flowered into the most brilliant acting and a completely fluid piece of theatre. Yes, it was pure “naturalism” – which the content and themes of the play dictate – but in the hands of the Pond Theatre Company it was powerful stuff indeed. Tangibly real, deeply present work. A way of working and acting that in all the plays I’ve seen performed in my career is extremely rare. I’ve perhaps seen that level of believability at only a handful of productions (Sam Shepard’s True West at the Donmar; Annie Baker’s The Flick at the National), and once at the Actors Studio in New York (in 1995 when I studied there as an “international observer”). The Pond production was just so good - to the extent that friends who I took to see The Naturalists would say to me “ I WAS in that mobile home; I WAS in County Monaghan.” If theatre can create this kind of “transportation” to another place entirely then it has achieved a lot; it has moved its audience, in more ways than one.
The
reviews reflected this. Some, of course, were more critical of this naturalism
(as if it was a retro step, weaker than more stylised forms perhaps. If only those
critics knew that I’ve spent about ten years of my life studying stylised
theatre forms!) – but this is the very point of the story. The characters in
the play – especially Josie and Francis - have REJECTED the modern moment.
Because when you think about it, when you look around you, “modernity” & “modernism” (always my great love in theatre and literature for many years) have hardly delivered have they? The world is currently in chaos. This rejection of "the modern moment" is examined to a great extent in the play. A return to nature is paralleled in the story
with a return to naturalism. For instance, Josie, a dancer, has a PhD in
William Forsythe but wants to return to the ideas of Isadora Duncan – in her
quest to find a more authentic pulse. I guess that’s what the characters are
after: authenticity – and they are looking for it at Swann’s Cross in County
Monaghan.
If
some critics did not appreciate the pace, the organic “presentness” of the
play, overall I think the New York critics really loved this play and appreciated
it, saw the “naturalism” as an aesthetic choice, one every bit as valid as a
more stylistic, expressionistic choice.
It
would be fantastic if The Pond were to transfer the play to other cities in the
US and to London and we are currently in talks about this. Watch this space!
Here
is a loose roundup of reviews - and if you would like to read the text of the play it has been published by the fantastic Aurora Metro and is available in most good bookshops:
https://aurorametro.com/product/the-naturalists/
https://aurorametro.com/product/the-naturalists/
Reviews
for THE NATURALISTS in New York:
“Best
Bet” International Theatre from Theatre is Easy
“Beautifully
performed” The New Yorker
“This
is fresh and authentic theater. The direction is deft. The the characters
capture you quickly; you never doubt them. The script is a glimpse of a moment fraught with all the
breakage engendered in the Troubles before, all the specific damage visited on
these four people, and all the slim hopes of redemption.”
“Jaki
McCarrick's play builds ambience with every word.”
“An
earthy depiction of a small group of individuals living on the edge of
society.”
“...bursting
with love and light...a hilarious dark comedy. Playwright Jaki McCarrick uses
an E. E. Cummings poem as the dedication for the script of The Naturalists:
"Love is the every only god." This sentiment is explored with warmth
and humor in this world premiere production.”
"The
Naturalists is staged with impeccable, well, naturalism...The elfin Mr.
Keating, the saturnine Mr. Ruddy and the radiant Ms. Street all move
persuasively between fragility and strength"
"You
won't find a better acted suite of scenes on any New York stage than the ones
here."
“In
Jaki McCarrick’s fascinating play, The Naturalists, this tiny terrorist
retirement community consists of two brothers who have an edgy relationship.”
“The
Naturalists introduces us to Jaki McCarrick, whom we will surely be hearing
from again, such is her gift for singular, sharply drawn characters and
dialogue with a touch of the lyric about it.”
More
details and reviews:
https://aurorametro.com/product/the-naturalists/
More about The Pond Theatre Company:
https://thepondtheatre.org/
More about The Pond Theatre Company:
https://thepondtheatre.org/
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